Apple bucked the industry trend of rising hardware prices this week by launching several affordable new products, catching Wall Street and consumers off guard.
Amid a backdrop of escalating costs across the tech sector, Apple introduced the entry-level iPhone 17e on Monday and the budget-friendly MacBook Neo on Wednesday — moves that have stunned analysts and delighted shoppers alike.
Apple has just made it easier for people to become customers.
Angela Palumbo for Barron’s:
Shareholders and consumers have wondered if Apple will raise prices further as memory costs skyrocket. Demand for memory is outpacing supply due to the need to power artificial intelligence. Tech hardware companies like HP Inc. and Dell Technologies have raised prices to offset some of these cost headwinds.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said on the company’s last earnings call in January that he wouldn’t want to “speculate,” on whether or not Apple would be raising prices.
It’s because of this backdrop that the launch of several new products from Apple this week has shocked Wall Street and consumers.”
“The MacBook Neo is one of the most important announcements for Apple in the Mac product line and represents a shift in the history of the Mac,” Francisco Jeronimo, VP for Data and Analytics at IDC, wrote on Wednesday. “Apple is aggressively aiming to grow market share while expanding the ecosystem.”
These device announcements also prove that Apple is in a strong position to handle a volatile cost environment, says Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani.
“We think investors are underappreciating how well AAPL is perhaps managing through the memory inflation issue and, critically, how recent product launches demonstrate its ability to offset these pressures,” Daryanani wrote on Thursday. He rates Apple as Outperform with a $330 price target.
MacDailyNews Take: Think different®. When all others are raising prices, it’s time to grow market share (and further feed services)!
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